Adventures of the Orange Flash
Chapter 73: Busting Up at the Beach

Naruto was currently in his room, packing certain items into his Fuinjutsu modified backpack and making sure that he wasn't missing anything before finally taking a short break. His ears picked up the sounds of beeping from his phone and groaned mentally, knowing full well that they were alerts for messages from various companies and fashion designers. Just how on earth did they get his phone number? He might need to change it.

"For someone who used to seek attention back in Konoha, it never ceases to amuse me that you don't want it anymore," said Kurama who was obviously amused by his friend's situation.

"Shut it, Kurama. We both know that this kind of attention is way different from the one back home," Naruto retorted mentally.

Ever since he help Honey by standing in as a replacement for the injured male model, he's got a lot of people hounding him twice as much compared to when he gained fame from winning the World Fighting Tournament. Kurama joked that fame which was fading was suddenly revived due to he acting as a temporary model and he has no one to blame but himself.

"Which is why I'm doing this to unwind, I'm gonna go and check if the others are ready," thought Naruto.

The blonde kitsune left his room and went downstairs to the living room where he found Wendy, Milla and Spicy chatting amongst themselves about something with Carla watching over them with Carol lounging lazily on the sofa like always. He then saw Lilac and Nicole emerge from the kitchen with a picnic basket full of food which was stored in the latter's SAC.

"I guess you're all set now?" asked Naruto.

"Yup, we're all good to go," said Carol, sitting up from the sofa.

Naruto turned to the younger girls "Are you sure that you don't want to come with us to the beach? It still surprises me that you don't want to go,"

Wendy shook her head politely "As much as we'd like to, we can't. we're working on a special potion which is at the HQ and we want to finish it today!"

"But what does this potion do?" asked Lilac.

"It's an Invisibility potion! After spraying it on your body, you'll go invisible for a while until it wears off!" said Spicy excitedly.

"Aren't you supposed to drink potions?" asked Carol confusedly.

Milla explained "We read that there are potions which aren't meant to be swallowed as they would be toxic to the internal organs. Some would be made into incense to burn, perfume to be sprayed or even poured onto things,"

"Sounds like a knockoff version of the signature technique of the Shinobi Clan," Kurama commented.

"Come on, Kurama. Let them have their fun," said Naruto mentally then he turned to the girls "Very well then, I'll have my clone take you three to the Freedom Fighters HQ but please be careful, okay?"

"We will!" said Spicy cheerfully.

Carla assured the blonde kitsune "Rest assured, I'll keep an eye on there to make sure that they don't do anything which will be a danger to them,"

"We'll be counting on you, Carla," said Lilac.

After sending the girls on their way with a shadow clone via the Hiraishin, Naruto and the others left the house and headed over to Emerald Beach where they came upon a lot of people there, both young and old having a good time.

"Guess we aren't the only ones wanting to cool down and relax," Naruto commented as he looked around, his ears picked up the sounds of whispering and looking to see the people looking at him and chattering amongst themselves with some even taking pictures of him.

"Looks like your fame is gonna last a while longer than the first," said Carol teasingly, both she and Lilac were knocked for a loop when they had found out about Naruto being a model with Lilac feeling awkward while the wildcat herself had fun teasing the embarrassed kitsune.

Naruto groaned "Could you at least give me a break from your teasing, it's why I came to this beach,"

"Okay okay, plus I can always do it some other time,"

"Carol…," Lilac scolded.

"Alright then, we'll go and change into the right attire so be sure to respond properly when we get back," said Carol before leaving with Lilac for the changing rooms.

"*Sigh* I'll see up the place in the meantime,"

"I'll help too," Nicole flew off Naruto's head in her fairy form and shifted to her default form, having been attuning to her new physiology and becoming used to it.

"Thanks, Nicole-chan,"

The two started out by taking out the items from Naruto's backpack then proceeded by first spreading out a beach blanket and staking a large beach umbrella into the sand to provide shade, propping up a couple of beach chairs then finished up by bringing out the cooler containing chilled drinks and picnic basket with the food that Lilac and Nicole had cooked.

"Looks like we're good to go," Naruto looked at the setup with satisfaction.

"Um, Naruto?" the blonde kitsune turned to see Nicole fidgeting shyly "There's something I'd like to show you,"

"What is it?"

Nicole closed her eyes as streams of numerical data swirled around her, obscuring everyone's view before fading away to reveal the hybrid lynx wearing something very different from her usual clothing. she's wearing a purple string bikini whereby the top hugged her bust just right with the strings tied behind her neck with a cute bow, and the bottom hugs the waist line but not too tightly with the strings tied into cute bows at both sides.

Naruto felt tongue-tied and can't be sure if it's literal at this point, he had always viewed Nicole to be a pretty girl, but this…this is a whole new level. It's like the bikini helped enhance her natural beauty.

"I've been working on ways to digitally change my outfits which I had bought from my SAC. And since we were coming to the beach, I thought it would be the best time to try it out," Nicole explained timidly "So um, how do I look?"

"…," Naruto was unable to say as all he could do right now is stare at the hybrid lynx, making her feel more conscious.

"Oh boy, the kid's so stunned that his mind stopped working. Can't blame him though," said Kurama.

Being the ever-helpful Chao that he is, Yoru smacked Naruto at the back of his head which jolted him back into reality, making him feel embarrassed "Oh uh…sorry about that Nicole-chan, it's just that you were so pretty that my mind kinda went blank,"

He looked away while rubbing the back of his head with a sheepish grin, not seeing Nicole hold her hand to her chest, feeling her new heart pounding madly in her chest from hearing Naruto's compliment, feeling her lips curl into a smile out of joy.

"Looks like you guys are done setting up on your side," Carol spoke up, causing Naruto and Nicole to turn to her and Lilac, and see that they too had changed into their swimsuits.

Lilac was wearing a fuchsia-colored bikini with the top being strapless to gently wrap around her bust and bottom clinging to the waistline (Summer time by KenjiKanzaki on Deviantart)

As for Carol, her tomboyish nature could be seen in her two piece swimsuit which which a green strapless top and black swimming trunks with blue accents while having her red scarf wrapped around her left wrist (Summer time with Carol Tea by KenjiKazaki05 on Deviantart)

Naruto then noticed that they both rented out surfboards which has their favorite colors on them, but that was put in the back pocket because he was dazzled by their looks too. Something which Carol noticed and had the 'Cat ate the canary' grin on her face.

"Soooo~ what do you think of our swimsuits? Like what you see foxy?" asked Carol teasingly, Naruto sputtered with his face becoming even redder as Kurama laughed at him which more than gave her an answer.

"Carol, cut it out," Lilac admonished her best friend for her mischief, but she was inwardly happily that Naruto found her swimsuit appealing to him. Then she's took note of Nicole's swimsuit "Wow Nicole, that swimsuit really looks good on you,"

Nicole smiled in response "Thank you, Lilac. I've been working on digitally swapping between outfits and items from my SAC,"

"That's pretty cool," said Carol then she turned back to Naruto and noticed that he hasn't changed yet "Aren't you gonna change anytime soon?"

Naruto snapped his fingers upon realizing what he had forgotten "Oh yeah, almost forgot. Wait a sec…," he accessed his Earth Aspect to raise a wall of sand around him to obstruct everyone's view. For about a few minutes, the sand wall crumpled down to reveal Naruto in his attire and a collective gasp could be heard all around in the beach; he was wearing a tropical shirt which was unbuttoned to expose his muscular chest and a pair of black swimming trunks with orange flames then he snapped his fingers to summon a surfboard with a radical design which he had made by himself thanks to his Wood Aspect then had it sprayed over at Rotor's place.

The girls blushed beet red at how HOT the blonde kitsune was looking right now, it was one thing to see it on a page of a magazine and another to see it for real. The Chao Kou and Yoru were giggling at how they're gawking at Naruto the same way he was gawking at them, talk about irony.

"Hubba hubba, is this really the guy I tease all the time?" thought Carol in confusion.

"A-Are all guys like Naruto this well-built? I mean I hardly see him without a shirt but still…," Lilac kept glancing at Naruto's chest even she tried not to.

"Oh my…," Nicole just couldn't say anything more than those two words.

All around the beach, girls and oddly enough boys were taking pictures of Naruto like crazy with intentions of posting them on their favorite social media. Naruto sweatdropped at this, now realizing that this is what Sasuke went through back in the academy and wanted to smack himself for being envious of the guy.

Noticing that their minds were elsewhere, Naruto snapped his fingers loudly to grab their attention "Hey, snap out of it! We're here to have fun and relax, aren't we?"

His words brought them out of their state of bliss with Carol "O-Oh yeah, you're right. L-Let's go and catch some waves!"

"I'll remain behind to watch over the things and the Chao," said Nicole, settling on one of the beach chairs.

Lilac nodded in understanding "Okay, we'll be back soon,"

With that said, the trio headed out to the sea in order to surf while Nicole relaxed underneath the shade of the umbrella. All in all, everyone was having a good as they were either surfing on the waves, playing in the sand or just relaxing. These are some of the few times they could rest without tension since they need to be ready for anything ranging from Eggman trying to take over the world to unknown visitors coming from alternate dimensions with unknown purposes.

Having played enough in the water, they came out to have lunch which Nicole had prepared for them. Turns out that she's gotten into cooking ever since she gained the ability to smell and taste, and she's got quite the talent in it.

Nicole had for them; ham-and-cheese submarine sandwiches, blueberry muffins, homemade ginger beer, chicken fritters, and tuna pasta salad. After enjoying their meal, Naruto figured that he buy ice cream for them as a chilly dessert and so went over to the ice cream stall where he came across certain familiar faces.

"Relic and Fixit, is it you guys?" Naruto called out to make sure it's them. The aforementioned two turned around and were surprised to see him there.

"Naruto, what a surprise seeing you here," Relic commented.

[It's a pleasure to see you once more, Mr. Naruto] said Fixit with a polite bow.

"Yeah, I came here to relax with the others since the past few days were quite busy for us," said Naruto.

"I can tell considering that you were being a model just a few days ago," said Relic.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment "Oh yeah, guess you saw it too, huh?"

[It was quite a surprise when we did, Miss Relic was stunned speechless as she couldn't stop l-]

"That's enough of that, Fixit!" Relic interrupted with her cheeks tinged pink.

Naruto took note of the swimsuit she was wearing which was a one-piece swim dress which is cobalt blue in color "Your swimsuit really suits you, Relic-chan. Makes you look cute,"

Relic blushed at the compliment "O-Oh, thank you. You also look handsome with your attire,"

"Oh gee, thanks," Naruto smiled sheepishly "Anyways, what brings you two here?"

[We've been quite busy with several archeological studies, so I suggested that we take a moment of respite before resuming] Fixit explained.

"Sounds like you're taking a break too, then how about hanging out with me and girls. I'm sure they won't mind the company,"

Relic hummed in thought before giving her response "Okay, It has been a while since we last met,"

"Great, let me just make my order then we'll go,"

After buying a pack of ice pops, Naruto guided Relic and Fixit back to where Lilac and the others were waiting for him with the girls mildly surprised to see the archeologist as they hadn't seen her for quite a while.

"Hey Relic, long time no see!" said Carol cheerfully.

Relic smiled in response "Indeed it has been a while,"

"Relic was taking a break from her work, so I figured that I'd invite over to hang out with us," Naruto explained to the others.

"Sure, we don't mind the extra company," said Lilac.

Relic sat down with them and Nicole offered some of their lunch which she tried to politely refuse but was persuaded otherwise. Afterwards they had conversations about various subjects albeit one of them was of Naruto being a model which Carol didn't stop teasing the blonde kitsune much to his chagrin. Relic then became interested in Kou and Yoru when she noticed that the Chao had changed since the last time she saw them, Kou didn't mind Relic examining him, Yoru on the other hand…

"Choa!"

"Please wait, I only want to observe you!"

Yoru was flying away from Relic with his emote ball depicting the Dark Chaos' disgruntlement while the archeologist was trying to catch him with the others looking on in amusement. However, Yoru flew right over Naruto which alarmed Relic who tried to stop but ended up entangling her feet on the beach blanket and falling right on top of Naruto much to the shock of the rest.

Both Mobians stared at each other in stunned silence, their chests pressed against each other as azure blue eyes looked at lime green eyes, and their lips merely inches aw-

"AHEM!"

Someone's faux cough snapped the two out of their stupor as they turned to see Lilac tapping a foot on the sandy ground with arms crossed and a frowned on her face, Nicole was pouting rather cutely, and Carol was looking at them with a quirked eyebrow. Meanwhile Yoru was watching all this and giggling mischievously and Kou sighed at his fellow Chaos antics.

"So, how long at you two going to be like that?" asked Lilac stoically, the question made the kitsune and pika scramble off each other and move apart in embarrassment.

"I-I-I-I'm sorry for such a thing, it's unbecoming of me!" Relic stammered with her cheeks tinged "They felt so firm,"

"I-I-It's okay," Naruto replied in a similar manner "They felt soft,"

"Oh really? How soft are we tal-OW!" Kurama was inquiring when a large boulder with the words 'Silence' into it appeared in the mindscape and slammed right on the Bijuu's head to shut him up.

Unbeknownst to Naruto and Relic, Lilac along with the other girls weren't exactly mad at them but rather jealous as they all shared the same thought.

"Why couldn't it have been me in her place instead, it looks so nice to lay on his chest,"

With that incident out of the way but obviously not forgotten, Naruto decided to be the random guy he always is and used his Earth Aspect to manipulate the sand with Terra Mold to make sculptures like the Master Emerald, Sonic, the Chao, several animals and even an eastern style castle then took pictures of them to show to Wendy, Spicy and Milla when they get back home.

Meanwhile the bystanders were again snapping pictures with their phones and some of the kids were playing around with the sculptures once Naruto left after telling them that he had hardened them to last for a while before they crumble. Needless to say, Naruto has really made their day interesting by coming there. There's gonna be a lot of chatter online.

"Thanks for having Fixit and I along today, I really enjoyed it," said Relic gratefully.

[Miss Relic is correct, today is quite an interesting day] said Fixit in agreement.

Lilac smiled in response "It's no problem at all, we all had fun,"

Carol shrugged her shoulders "She's not wrong,"

"I'll be getting in contact with you, Naruto. Seems like the next subject of study may require your assistance, I hope you would have an open schedule by then," said Relic.

"Sure, I don't mind lending a hand. Just let me know when you need my help," said Naruto assuredly.

Relic smiled at this "Thank you, goodbye for now," she left along with Fixit to their car for departure.

"Alright, time to head home. I've already sent a shadow clone to go and pick up Milla and the girls from the HQ, they should be home by now," said Naruto.

"That's good to hear," said Nicole.

"I'm kinda curious to find out if their invisibility potion works?" said Carol curiously.

"Don't try any funny business if that's the case," said Lilac sternly.

"Sheesh, spoil a girl's fun why don't ya…,"

They returned home and found Wendy, Milla and Spicy excitedly welcoming them and chattering how their potion was a success that even Rotor and Sally were interested in it, that it be helpful for future stealth missions, Carol tried to ask for samples but Lilac held true and stopped her in time. Amused by all this, Naruto went upstairs to his and found his shadow clone who had a serious look on his face.

"You're still here, I was wondering why you hadn't dispelled yet?" asked Naruto confusedly.

"Boos, I found this attached to a web on the corner of the porch's ceiling," the clone held out a scroll and Naruto immediately recognized the emblem on it.

"That's from the Gossamer Clan," said Naruto with a small frown.

"I wonder what business they have with us?" asked Kurama, seeing no humor in this as the only clan they had made solid contact with was the Shinobi clan that wanted to renew their alliance with the Yakan Clan.

"Let's find out," Naruto took the scroll with the clone dispelling itself, he unrolled it to read the message written on it.

Greetings Naruto Uzumaki, the first ever Groom of the Yakan Clan. I am the Bride of Endless Reach, Bride to the House of the Gossamer Clan. She who knows the course of fate, she who can obtain all things. I am well aware of your exploits and find them to be quite admirable and a milestone to the ways of the Yakan Clan.

However, I send this message to warn you of something dire which I had foreseen. A dark threat towards the very planet itself will befall us within seven days, I implore for you and your friends to be prepared for what is to come. Also, should the dark threat be dealt with, I would like for us to meet whenever you wish to do so.

Naruto frowned after reading the message "What are your thoughts, Kurama?"

"The message says it all, something big is coming and we both know that the Gossamer Clan don't joke around with their foresights. I suggest that we persuade the others to better prepare with the hunch that you're getting a bad vibe since there's the chance of them not exactly believing if you told them, you got a warning message from a secret ninja clan," said Kurama.

"I see what you meant, guess we'll have to go with that for now," thought Naruto.

"Don't forget to confide this with Tetsuo, we could also use his advice in this," the Bijuu added.

"Good idea,"

Several days later, we find Naruto running through the grassy plains at highspeed with the Chao perched on his shoulder while Nicole flew next to him in her faerie form. He had been training himself and geared up since the message he received from the Bride of Endless Reach and had also been keeping the others in shape for what was coming.

Suddenly, he was snapped out of his thoughts by the beeping sounds coming from his ECG-X gloves, making him skid to a stop then he tapped on one of them to open the transmission as a Holoscreen was projected "Naruto here,"

Sally appeared on the Holoscreen with a look of worry on her face [Naruto, we've an emergency! We've been picking up transmissions of Black Aliens attacking over six major cities all over the world!] she switched the channels for Naruto to see numerous black aliens dropping down from a black-and-red swirling portal in the sky and began wreaking havoc through a city.

"This must be it," Naruto clenched his fists in anger, seeing this reminded him of when Pein attacked the Hidden Leaf village and laid waste to a majority of it.

[We've already deployed the Freedom Fighters to some of the cities to provide support, I'll be needing you to head over to Westopolis as it's being attacked more severely compared to the other cities]

"Anything else I need to know?" asked Naruto seriously, prepping himself up for the battles ahead.

[Sonic and a few others are already headed there, so you can meet up with them]

"Gotcha, heading there now,"

[Okay Naruto, please be careful] said Sally before ending the transmission.

"It's obvious what needs to be done," said Kurama.

"Of course," Naruto turned to Nicole and the Chao "Let's head over there and lend them a hand,"

Nicole and the Chao nodded in affirmation with the former speaking "We're with you all the way,"

The duo took off at highspeed with Nicole serving as the navigator towards Westopolis in order to save the city from the alien invasion and unveil their reason for doing so, unbeknownst to them that there's more going on here than what they're seeing at face level.

Somewhere in the clearing of a dark forest, a Warp Ring suddenly appeared in midair as someone tumbled out of it and fell onto the ground with a thump. The person is revealed to be a Mobian vixen who is wearing prison clothes albeit being in a tattered state. The vixen rose to her knees with a pained groan, her hand reaching out to touch a particularly nasty bruise on her head.

"What happened? Where am I?" the vixen looked around with a lost look in her eyes "Who am I…? My head hurts so much!"

She struggles to remember but her memories were too fragmented, so far all she could recall were images of two hedgehogs with one being blue and the other being green but for some reason, the latter frightens her. She tried harder but her head began to ache so much that she had to stop.

"I need to get out of here and find a way to get my memories back," the vixen rose to her feet and picked a direction which she hopes is the right one then headed there in order to find help, unaware that there's an ongoing crisis already happening.

This is Hussbek online with the latest chapter, Naruto decided to have a relaxing time at the beach with Lilac, Carol and Nicole coming along since Milla and the other girls were going to Freedom Fighters HQ to complete a potion which they have been working with Carla coming along to supervise them. With that, the two groups went to their separate destinations.

Upon arriving at the beach, Naruto's presence stirred up the crowd due to his recent fame which Carol teased him about before she and Lilac went to change into their swimsuit, Nicole also revealed her latest ability to swap items from the SAC as she instantly changed into her swimsuit which stunned Naruto. Later on, Naruto ran into Relic who was taking a break from her work with Fixit with a certain mishap occurring between them later on.

Upon returning home, Naruto discovered a message from the Gossamer Clan which was warning him about a dark threat approaching them in the near future while also wishing to meet with him should the opportunity present itself.

Soon enough, the foresight came true when Sally called for an emergency as various major cities were under attack by black aliens and requested for Naruto and Nicole to provide assistance to one of the cities closest to him which is Westopolis, the duo complied and began their assigned mission. Unbeknownst to anyone, someone stumbles into their dimension and appears to be suffering from amnesia while a world crisis is going on.

As seen from the cliffhanger, we're now entering the Shadow the Hedgehog arc where a lot of interesting things will be going on, Naruto will be debuting some new toys, gears and more so be sure to look forward to it. Also, we'll be going through multiple stages which relate to the True Ending route so no need to worry about missing out on certain things. No doubt you guys know who it was that fell out but what exactly happened will be revealed in bits and pieces along the way so be sure to look forward to it. Read and review like always.

This is Hussbek from Ghana.

Signing out and staying alive.